The Wrathchild I: The Man on Fire
by Aku Blossom
Summary: Once upon a time she was a hero, just like the rival she is now dedicated to defeating. This is Shego's story. The story of how she became a hero, how she fell from grace, and the burning image that would haunt her the rest of her life.
1. Chapter 1

**_The Wrathchild I:_ _The Man on Fire_**

**By Deus Ex Procella**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible or any related characters. All original characters and concepts do; however, belong to me and me alone.**

* * *

_Once upon a time, a young woman was given the chance to rule the world. Everything played out perfectly, up until the final curtain call, where she lost everything and her greatest glory was wiped from the pages of history. Kim Possible along with her often goofy side-kick, Ron Stoppable, prevented a dark course history may have taken. They dethroned The Supreme One and prevented her from ever coming into existence. The Supreme One, as everyone never knew, was none other than the side-kick of Kim's alleged arch-nemesis, Dr. Drakken._

_The similarities between Kim and that woman were remarkable, to the point of almost being a sick cosmic joke. How someone like Kim Possible could share so many qualities with a woman so wretched and evil as her was baffling. Perhaps, she was what Kim Possible may have become. Perhaps her very existence was just a warning to the world. A warning to let them know just how evil and powerful Kim Possible could become if she were to turn from good._

_If this were true, though, why did she fall to darkness? Once upon a time, the same woman who could have ruled the world was a hero, a savior of the innocent. Once upon a time she was just like Kim Possible. So why did the two now stand against one another? One on the side of light and justice, the other one the side of evil and darkness? Was one born inherently good and the other inherently bad? Or was one simply a victim of circumstance?_

_A lost footnote in the pages of history, one that could change how the world saw her if only they would listen. This, is the story of Shego and how she became the dark counterpart to Kim Possible that she is today._

* * *

Seven-year-old Heath Gordon was led into the room where her mother had just given birth. He stared in awe as the nurse who had been holding his hand let go and approached the bed where his mother lay. He had seen his father storm away from the emergency room and now he was nowhere to be found. This was all very confusing for Heath, who really believed his dad should be here! After all, his baby sister had just been born! 

Heath walked up to his mom's side, but she refused to acknowledge him. Heath stared in confusion, and saw that his mother was crying. She didn't have his sister either, what was wrong with this place? Heath looked around then noticed a different, older nurse than the one who had led him in cradling a tiny bundle. His breath caught in his throat when the nurse saw him and smiled.

"Hey little guy, I'd like you to meet someone," He said in a kindly manner. The male nurse approached Heath and knelt down so he could see the baby—it was at this close distance Heath could read his nametag "Greg Focker". She had a shock of dark hair on her head, and her eyes were opened. It was the strangest thing, but he could hardly react he was so awestruck by the sight of her. Those shiny red eyes stared back at him so innocently.

"Do you want to hold her?" Heath jumped at the question and looked up at the nurse, nodding stiffly. He smiled and after Heath had sat down he gently handed the baby to him. Heath glanced at his mother and saw that she was still crying and unable to look at them. His dad was still missing. But when Heath looked down at the baby, that just didn't seem to matter. She was looking up at him, her red eyes practically sparkling in the fluorescent light. The nurse ruffled Heath's black hair and smiled at him then down at the baby.

"Say hello to your baby sister, Sarah," Heath smiled and adjusted his hold on the baby, who was cooing in his awkward, childish hold.

"H-Hi Sarah…" He whispered. The nurse smiled and left the two of them. Staring at his sister, gears that shouldn't be working began to turn in Heath's head. He looked at his mother again, then once more acknowledged his father's absence. He looked down at the cooing newborn baby and smiled comfortingly.

"Don't worry….I won't go away," He almost thought he saw her smile, but it was probably just his imagination.

* * *

"That's it! Throw it a little harder next time!" Sarah—now six years old—watched her daddy and big brother play catch with the football again. She had wanted to watch TV, but her mommy was in the living room with her one-year-old brother, Michael, so that plan was out the door. So instead she had run off to find Heath to see if he would play with her. Maybe she could play catch with Heath and Daddy! That was a good plan! She beamed proudly as she stepped out into the back yard and ran up to the mountain of muscles she called her daddy and tugged on his shirt. 

"Daddy! Daddy! Can I pl-," Sarah didn't get a chance to finish as a stinging smack to her mouth ended her sentence. Being the young child she was, her eyes immediately welled up as she held her mouth. Her daddy didn't respond to her beginning to cry, he only tossed the ball back to Heath. Her brother caught the ball but only looked back at his father angrily instead of continuing the game.

"What have I told you about pulling on someone else's clothes?" The large man asked, no longer looking at his son and like always avoiding eye contact with Sarah. Sarah sniffled and mumbled "Dow do ih," through her hands. He nodded and checked his watch.

"We still have a few minutes before-," He saw the look Heath was giving him and swallowed back his offer. He wasn't afraid of his favorite son, but he certainly didn't like the glare he was getting. "That's enough practice for today, good job son!" With that, Barry Gordon walked back to the house, again not paying his only daughter even a glance before going in. Heath tossed the ball aside and jogged over to his sister, ruffling her hair and catching her attention.

"Daddy smacked me again," She mumbled, clasping her hands behind her back and digging her toe shamefully into the ground. Heath's hand stayed on her head as the two stood outside. It was a fairly nice day, just a hint of summer over the horizon with a deliciously partially cloudy sky that kept the sun from beating down too harshly.

"It's not your fault Sar', Dad's just a little touchy. C'mon let's go check out that tree house!" Before Sarah could respond she was squealing and laughing as Heath tossed her into the air and caught her and sat her on his surprisingly broad shoulders. Sarah leaned on Heath's head and kicked her legs cheerfully.

"So what've you been up to? Staying out of trouble?" Heath asked jokingly. Sarah; however, didn't quite pick up on the joke and tensed up, causing Heath to stop and turn his head up to her.

"Uh huh! I'm a good girl!" She protested, her shiny red eyes glaring down at him for his accusations. Heath smiled and shook his head, the mirth in his blue eyes evident enough to calm his kid sister.

"I was just kidding Sar', I know you're a good girl." Sarah beamed and when the two reached the tree house she stood up on Heath's shoulders and climbed in. Despite that he knew he could catch her if she fell, Heath could help but tense up and watch uneasily at this surprisingly daring feat. Sarah poked her head out and pouted, making Heath chuckle.

"C'mon already! You're too slow!" Heath glared back playfully and jumped up, grabbing the sides of the entrance and pulling himself up.

"Too slow? I'll show you whose too slow!" Sarah shrieked and withdrew into the tree house giggling wildly while Heath finished pulling himself in. The giggling promptly grew in intensity as Sarah suffered a vicious tickle attack for her remark.

* * *

_Over the next couple years, the almost intimate relationship between Heath and Sarah only grew stronger. They seemed practically inseparable, even when Heath began high school and became involved with football and other extracurricular activities that drained the time he spent at home. However, every moment he spent at home was spent with Sarah and their brother Michael._

_The cold relationship between Sarah and her mother seemed to grow only colder, to the point that they had practically given up speaking to each other. With the birth of the twins—Walter and William—four years after Michael's birth, Jennifer Gordon finally recovered whatever passion she had lost with her daughter's birth and poured her love and affection into the two. This of course caused Michael to develop a harsh middle child syndrome. The twins received all of his mother's affection, his brother received all of his father's love, and Sarah received all of Heath's attention._

_On the opposite spectrum, Sarah's relationship with her father had scarcely evolved. He still had very little patience for her, and found an excuse to smack or hit her for nearly everything she did. Granted it was never a brutal smack or hit, just simply enough to leave a good sting. That was, unless she made him mad, then the spanking made the subsequent time-out much more unbearable._

_This distance with her parents quickly caused Sarah to seek Heath for parental advice and praise. Any and all of her achievements went straight to Heath for approval, and he never failed to listen when she began to rant and ramble childishly. The distance with her parents may have been lost on Sarah, but it wasn't lost on Heath. In fact, after ten years of watching the way they treated her, Heath had finally reached his breaking point._

_Good as his intentions were, Heath's breaking point began the downward spiral that would set the stage for the show we would all one day know._

* * *

The Gordon family was seated at the kitchen table, awaiting the double-edged sword known as the evening meal. Five-year-old Michael was keeping to himself, occasionally glancing at the one-year-old twins sitting in their high chairs dangerously close to him. He could only cringe and pray they'd actually eat their food tonight, rather than fling it at him. Ten-year-old Sarah and seventeen-year-old Heath sat side-by-side across from Michael and the twins, the former trying to hide that she was reading at the table and the latter slumped in his seat, groaning from the grueling football practice he got out of a few minutes prior to dinner. Their father was seated at the far right side of the table reading the newspaper and tapping his foot impatiently. 

Thankfully for everyone present, Jennifer made her grand entrance as she brought dinner in. Heath pulled his head up wearily just in time to see the meat-like object now sitting on his plate.

"Is this supposed to be steak or a chew toy?" He asked as he poked the very rubber-like food questioningly. Sarah giggled and looked up from her book at him. Jennifer only rolled her eyes and sat down.

"There's nothing wrong with it! I may have cooked it a little too long but it's perfectly fine!" Heath silently—and mockingly—parroted her and stuck his tongue out at Sarah. His little sister was trying her hardest to hold her laughing fit in and stuck her tongue back out at him. Aside from their mother's sometimes questionable cooking ability, the other "bladed" detail about the seating arrangement—well excepting Michael being within throwing range of the twins' baby food—came in the form of a sharp swat at Sarah's mouth.

The red-eyed girl reacted like always, her hands shooting to cover her now stinging mouth and her eyes watering as she glanced at her father apologetically. Like always he wasn't looking at her. Next to her, Sarah could feel her brother bristling. He always got all tensed up when Daddy would smack her.

"Sorry Daddy…" She mumbled before turning back to the more than likely inedible meal set before her. Her eyes drifted back down to the book open in her lap and dinner proceeded like dinner always proceeded for the Gordon family.

Throughout the meal, Barry would be the only person to compliment Jennifer on her cooking without provocation. Heath would make an exaggerated spectacle of how hard it was to eat the food, mostly to get a rise from Sarah. After a look from his father his show would stop and he would—as sincerely as he could without laughing—compliment his mother and apologize. Michael gabbed constantly throughout the meal, talking far louder than necessary. Despite all this, he was completely ignored until Wally and Willy threw their food at him and he began to yell at them. And finally Sarah would half-play with her food while trying to continue to sneakily read the book she held on her lap.

And like every meal, her father would eventually notice her reading. Another smack ensued, causing Heath to bristle and Sarah to mumble another apology while holding her sore mouth. Michael, always the first one done, made a show of himself, overreacting and exaggerating his every detail from putting his plate in the sink to announcing that he was going to watch TV. And as always: he was ignored. After he stomped away, Wally and Willy were typically the next ones finished. After being cleaned, they were set free in the living room with Michael while Jennifer returned to finally eat her own dinner. Finding another opportunity, Sarah tried to sneak a peak at her book again. And like always she was immediately caught, punished and scolded.

"What have I told you about reading at the table?" Her daddy demanded. Sarah, having been smacked three times now only shook her head and tried choking back the tears welled up by this point. This was where routine broke and the spiral began.

"Just let her read her fricking book and stop hitting her!" Heath barked, his blue eyes fixed angrily on his father. Barry looked back at Heath with an equally withering glare. Jennifer and Sarah—in a rare, but brief moment of likeness—held their breath and watched with wide-eyes as the powerful head of the household and the strong-willed eldest child stared each other down. They'd had these moments in the past and though Barry was still very capable of beating Heath on the rare occasions their bouts got physical, every time they came up Heath was stronger. It was only a matter of time before he managed to lay the old man out.

"Finish your dinner, and don't speak to me in that tone," Barry said softly—always a surefire indicator that he was very, very displeased. Usually, that was all it took to get Heath to stand down. Tonight, different plans were in the cards. Heath stood up and put a protective hand on Sarah's shoulder, defiantly staring into his father's stormy gray eyes.

"No! I'm sick and tired of the way you always treat her!" Sarah's gaze flew back and forth between her father and brother. The older man rose and the shouting began. When Heath began yelling at Daddy it was only a matter of time before they were both shouting at each other. Sarah shivered. And when that happened it was only a matter of time before they'd start to really fight. And every time they fought, Heath got hurt. Like all things about this evening, this evening played out much differently.

"I don't care how you feel about my parenting, you're my son and I won't have you talking to me so disrespectfully!"

"Being the father doesn't give you an excuse to hit her all the time!"

"It gives me every right to discipline my children!"

"Then hit me once in a while and stop hitting Sarah!"

"I'll do what I want, when I want and I don't need your permission!"

"Why do you always hit her?! It's not right and it's not fair!" Sarah and Jennifer watched anxiously as the vein throbbing in Barry's neck looked ready to burst. Unlike other evenings, this evening the shouting ended with Heath having the last word—and without a blow to the head.

"I can't put up with this anymore! She's ten-years-old, tell her!" He bellowed before storming for the door. This caught both Heath and Sarah's attention.

"Wait, what? Tell her what?" Sarah sat in a disturbed silence, shiny red eyes seeking some kind of answer. Barry didn't reply and only threw his hand in Jennifer's direction before he disappeared from sight. A few seconds later the sound of a door slamming was heard. Heath looked at his mother and sat back down, feeling Sarah moving to look at Jennifer as well.

"So? What's he talking about?"

"Tell me what Mommy?" Sarah whispered, having finally found her voice. Barry and Heath fighting always upset her to the point of being unable to speak for a while. Something surreal in the air seemed to have restored her linguistic ability much quicker as the brother and sister sought an answer from their now deathly silent mother. Jennifer shook her head very slowly, refusing to look at her two oldest children.

"Mom what's Dad talking about? What does Sarah need to know?" Heath questioned, perhaps a little to intensely. His adrenaline was still rushing from his shouting match with his father, he was probably coming on a little stronger than he wanted. Jennifer shook her head again and stared down at the floor. When she finally decided to speak, her voice cracked.

"It was a mistake…" She mumbled. Sarah had gotten up and nervously approached her mother. She was feeling very, very anxious about everything in the air that night. What hadn't her mommy told her?

"Mommy?" Jennifer looked up at Sarah, her pale blue eyes meeting her daughter's red ones. She slumped in her chair and looked away, staring at the wall blankly.

"Your father…it was a mistake…I'd do anything to take it back," She whispered again. Heath leaned forward, hugging a very frightened Sarah and holding her close whilst the two waited for her to continue. Jennifer was acting the same way Heath remembered seeing the day Sarah was born. Whatever their father had been referring to, it had to be a big deal for it to have Jennifer this out of it!

"Ten years ago I was…I was out grocery shopping…Heath you were with your father and I um…" Jennifer had slouched over in her seat, her face buried in her hands, with her arms propped up on her knees. "I met a man…and we…after…I never saw him again oh my God it was a mistake, it was the worst mistake I've ever made in my life," Jennifer was now shaking and sobbing. Heath held Sarah a little tighter, noting that the little girl was still very confused. Obviously, Sarah was too young to pick up on the implications of what their mother was saying.

"That man was…after that…I found out I was…and then I had Sar…" Jennifer lost her ability to speak again. Sarah was slowly beginning to piece everything together, at least as well as a ten-year-old could.

"Is that why Daddy doesn't love me?" She asked nervously. Heath could feel her shaking and without looking ventured to guess that Sarah was about to cry. Jennifer found one more chance to speak and finally choked out what she'd been trying to say.

"That man was your real daddy Sarah…Dimitri Rellington…he's your real daddy. God forgive me I never should have been so stupid, it was the worst mistake I ever made," As anyone would expect, the news that the man she thought was her daddy wasn't really her daddy hit Sarah very hard. She brought her hands up to her mouth as the tears began coming loose. Heath was having trouble digesting all of this as well. His mother had cheated on her father…and gotten pregnant? And the baby was Sarah? That was why both their parents seemed to want nothing to do with her.

"God those red eyes…I never should have looked at those red eyes, I was such a stupid, stupid person!" Jennifer was lost in self-loathing by this point and couldn't censure what she was saying. Sarah rubbed her eyes as this latest statement sunk in, her real daddy had red eyes like her, and it made her mommy cry. Now holding Sarah who was nearly bawling, Heath tried to find some kind of silver lining in this conversation.

"H-Hey! Hey! Mom at least we got Sarah, right? I mean that's a really good thing that came out of that, right?" His mother didn't respond, which was the only answer Sarah needed before tearing away from her brother and rushing off to her room.

* * *

Sarah lay on her bed in the dark. Partially because she was too upset to turn the light on and partially because she hadn't thought to. Now, an hour after being told she was a mistake and that her daddy wasn't her real daddy, she was wishing she had turned the light on. Sarah wasn't typically afraid of the dark, but at the moment she was having a hard time wrapping her mind around anything reasonable. Suddenly the idea of monsters and goblins hiding under her bed or in her closet wasn't so unlikely. 

Thankfully her mounting paranoia was interrupted when the door opened and the light flipped on. Sarah glanced up in time to see Heath shutting the door and smiled thankfully, glad it was her big brother and not anyone else. Heath smiled and waved silently. Sarah giggled and waved back while he crossed the short distance from the door to the bed and sat down. She accepted his hug instantly, practically throwing herself at him. They sat like that for a long time, a long time as far as Sarah was concerned that is. In reality it was only about five minutes.

"Do you still love me Heath?" She finally asked nervously breaking the silence. Heath rolled his eyes—not in an unfriendly manner—and patted her back.

"Of course Sar', nothing's going to change that," Sarah nodded, happy with the response and once more a thick silence hung in the air. Finally calming down, several questions began coming to mind as Sarah sat up and rubbed her bloodshot eyes.

"Heath, why is me having a different daddy a bad thing?" Heath blushed slightly and scratched his head. Hopefully he could get through _this_ conversation without having to have "The Talk" this early. He'd already resigned to the knowledge that he was going to be the one explaining the "birds and the bees" to Sarah, he just prayed it didn't have to be now.

"Well it means Mommy cheated on Daddy," Sarah cocked her head in confusion. Heath caught this and tried to simplify his wording. "Um…that means Mommy had a baby with someone other than Daddy," Still no dice, Sarah looked very confused still.

"Why is that bad?" Okay they were getting away from the topic he wanted to avoid, now he just had to explain marriage. That he could handle.

"Because Mommy and Daddy are married, so they can only have babies with each other," He ventured, mentally crossing his fingers and praying she wouldn't ask where the babies came from.

"What does married mean?" Whew, dodged the hard question and went for the easy one. Thank you Sarah.

"Well when two people get married it means they love each other very much and want to spend the rest of their lives together," Sarah nodded and hugged Heath.

"Then I want to marry you," Heath blushed and laughed, surprisingly Sarah. He quickly waved his hands, letting her know he wasn't laughing at her.

"No I'm not laughing at you Sarah," Sarah pouted and glared at him. Heath ruffled her hair and grinned. "You're cute kid, stay like that," Sarah beamed and hugged him again. Heath sighed and stared up at the ceiling, thanking whoever he could think of that Sarah hadn't asked-

Hey Heath? Where do babies come from?" Sarah asked innocently.

"_God damn it all._" He thought miserably.

* * *

_Having found out that she was only half-related to her brothers, Sarah fell into a mild depression. Odd as it seems for a child her age to be depressed, it was very real and very serious. Eating became a chore, smiling an exercise. Regardless of all these trials and tribulations, Sarah eventually came to grips with it. Heath stood by her the entire time, even as the already canyon-esque gap between parental figures and daughter grew into a gulf that could drown the oceans._

_After coming to terms with this new information, an idea that had been brewing since that fateful night began to take form. It is that very idea that would one day lead her story in a direction, no one would ever imagine. That idea that would one day reveal something to the world, that even Sarah herself would have never believed possible._

* * *

Sarah stepped into the library and took an instinctive deep breath, sighing happily at the musty scent of the hundreds maybe thousands of books that lined the walls of the three story building. Something about the library was so honest, so calming. It was a guilty pleasure admittedly that she enjoyed thoroughly ever since she was a little kid. Back then she could only read the little books, but now she was twelve years old and by golly she could read some of the biggest books in the library! 

That wasn't why she was here, though knowing that she was in a very safe and familiar location settled her uneasy nerves considerably. She had decided, after two years of toying with the idea, to find her real dad and find a way to meet him. She didn't dare tell Barry or her mom, they'd never agree to it. Sarah had learned very quickly that both parental figures despised the man and despite how little they ever showed affection for Sarah—to be brutally honest they _never _showed affection for Sarah—they forbid her to even talk about him when they were around. Still Heath had seen things her way and now he was visiting one of his college buddies to do some searching of his own while she staked out her favorite place in the world: The Go City Public Library! Nearly floating on air with a euphoric, pre-teen bliss she began to wander around simply taking in the sights, despite how she'd already seen them a million times.

"Can I help you?" A somewhat higher pitched male voice asked. Sarah spun around and smiled broadly at the librarian who was leaning on his desk and smiling at her. The librarian, Denzel Richardson, was an amazing person—Sarah's personal opinion of course. He had been a little intimidating at first, but over the years Sarah had grown very fond of the man who hadn't seemed to have aged a bit since she was a little girl. Still the same meticulously neat brown hair and eyes that could only be described as cherry-brown that always brightened up the already bright library.

"Hi Mr. Richardson! I just came to use one of the computers on the third floor, do you have any left or am I too late?" Sarah asked, throwing out her best pouty face just to assure she'd get a computer. Denzel grinned and sat back in his chair, returning to the saucy romance novel he had been reading. Sarah was a little curious about the cover—it depicted two men in armor, one with dirty blond hair that came down passed his shoulders with shadowed eyes holding a young man with shorter platinum blond hair, but longer bangs with purple highlights, with equally shadowed eyes. Above the two the bloody red and purple words "_Thy Father, Sin" _were written—but merely shrugged it off. Mr. Richardson was always reading weird books.

"And here I thought you were going to run off with half my books again," Sarah blushed and looked down at her feet laughing nervously. Denzel flashed another grin and jerked his thumb towards the staircase. "You're the only one here Sarah, head on up. Don't be shy if you need anything," Sarah smiled gratefully and hurried off for the staircase. She froze when she heard a sharp whistle.

"Walk, don't run," She rolled her eyes and could practically see Mr. Richardson waving a finger at her in mock scolding. Walking briskly she ascended the staircase, not passing up on the opportunity to look at the promotional posters that lined the walls. Most kids her age would be bored to tears by any kind of special event a library had the audacity to advertise but Sarah looked at them all enthusiastically. The first announced a children's story hour that would be held on Sunday. She stuck her tongue out. Much as she loved books, Sarah hated being read to. At least, anymore now that she was very capable of reading on her own. Another poster announced a city-wide "Literacy Awareness Week". This one interested Sarah far more than the previous.

"I'll have to ask Mr. Richardson about that…I wonder if our school is gonna do something for it?" The third poster was a little strange. It showed a very creepy looking clown holding a bunch of multi-colored helium balloons. He had shiny silver-dollar eyes and puffy orange balls like buttons along his suit. Sarah stopped and looked closer. There was a message written beneath in funny size varying letters. "_Pennywise the Dancing Clown is watching you! Stay out of trouble!" _Something about the poster was very unnerving. Sarah looked closer at the clown. There was something very odd about him…something familiar too…WHAM!

Sarah screamed and jumped nearly twice her height into the air. She heard an apologetic chuckle from the bottom of the stairs and peeked down over the banister to see Mr. Richardson smiling sheepishly up at her.

"Sorry! Dropped a book!" Sarah groaned and fell back, staring up at the ceiling. Now she'd embarrassed herself in the library, her sanctuary. This was where she was supposed to feel welcome, feel safe. Mr. Richardson probably thought she was ridiculous for screaming like that. Sarah laid there a few more minutes, getting her heart to slow down. She glanced over at the poster of Pennywise and cringed, looking away. She got up slowly and looked around the second floor. The computers were kept on the third floor, but the second floor was where they kept most of the fantasy and mystery books: Sarah's favorite!

"Well…maybe I can peek around for a little bit," She mused, walking to the nearest bookcase and skimming a finger very tenderly across the spines of the books as she read the titles and authors.

"Read that…read that…didn't like the first one…" She muttered, going down the list. With every book she looked across Sarah become more and more aware of a deathly silence hanging in the air. She glanced across the room to the stairs and saw the poster of Pennywise staring at her. Shivering she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling very chilly suddenly.

"That poster really works…no one would do anything bad with that guy watching…" She whispered, afraid to speak too loudly or else anger the fictional guardian clown watching her. Playing that thought back, Sarah realized how stupid it sounded and rolled her eyes. She stuck her tongue out at the clown before returning to browsing.

"He's not here," Sarah spun around in a way that would make a tornado envious. Her ruby-red eyes wide with fear, she craned her neck left and right searching for the owner of the voice. The room was completely empty save for Sarah and that stupid poster! Sarah shook her head and turned back to the book shelf. She heard a low chuckle and whipped around. No one, no one but her. She was the only person on the second floor, one of only two people in the entire building.

"M-Maybe I should go get a computer…" she mumbled before practically running to the stairs, stumbling her way to the third floor. Sarah was practically hyperventilating by the time she got to the third floor, and was very thankful that she was alone with no creepy clown posters to stare at her. Sarah looked around the third floor in a bit of awe. She never came to the third floor, after all it was the non-fiction section and she wasn't particularly keen on real things. She wanted to escape the real world when she read a book, not relive it all over again. A-ha! She found her target! Along the far wall were several computers. Sitting down at the nearest one, Sarah wiggled the mouse killing the screen saver and bringing up the desktop.

Now Sarah wasn't exceptionally computer savvy, but upon logging onto the internet she was quite impressed. Most public access computers—such as the computers at school—ran miserably. These were actually very speedy! Sarah cracked her fingers.

"Here goes nothing!"

* * *

Sarah trudged down the library stairs, sighing as she passed the reception desk. Denzel looked up from the books he was rechecking in and raised a concerned eyebrow. 

"Are you okay kiddo? You look out of it," Sarah sighed and shrugged. "Didn't find what you were looking for?" She shook her head. Denzel frowned and shrugged. "Sorry, wish I could have helped," Sarah waved it off and said a quick goodbye before heading outside to where Heath was waiting by his car.

"Did you find anything?" He asked, his voice soft and sympathetic seeing the downtrodden look on his little sister's face. Sarah shook her head and groaned hugging him hopelessly.

"Nothing at all…I couldn't even find his name listed anywhere on the internet! It's like he doesn't even exist!" Heath nodded and hugged her, patting her back comfortingly. He opened the door and let her climb in before shutting it and going to the other side. As he started the car, Sarah looked up at him hopefully.

"Did you find anything?" She asked. Heath hesitated, Sarah didn't notice though. She was too focused on being hopeful. After a very brief moment of hesitation Heath shook his head and smiled sadly.

"Sorry Squirt, nothing on my end either," Sarah leaned her seat back and nodded, rubbing her teary eyes. Heath frowned and turned away, focusing a little to harshly on the road ahead of him.

* * *

_Sarah didn't give up trying to find the enigmatic Dimitri Rellington. But no matter how hard she searched, no matter how many people she asked, no one had ever heard of him. And there was no way anyone could possibly know where he was if they didn't even know who he was. Sarah was very disheartened by this turn of events. She had hoped, in all of her admittedly love-starved fancies, that she could track down her father, meet him, and have a teary mushy reunion like on TV or in a book. But no such luck, no happy ending for Sarah Gordon._

_It took two years before something broke through the monotony of every day life. It was a day that would change the fate of the Gordon siblings forever. Wally and Willy were five that day, Michael was nine, Sarah was fourteen and Heath had just turned twenty-one. It was the beginning of a new chapter in their story, a story that would remain in infamy._

* * *

Sarah sat in class, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone and everyone. It wasn't that she was having a nightmare where she was naked or something silly. She wasn't wearing anything embarrassing and she hadn't spilled anything on herself. She just didn't like the stares and the teasing. It didn't matter what she wore, it didn't matter how she wore it, they never looked passed her dark hair and red eyes before teasing her. 

She glanced up, seeing some kind of movement nearby and groaned as subtly as she could. Despite the fact the teacher was currently giving a lecture, the certified school punk Johnny Nathaniel had left his seat to sit in the empty one beside Sarah. This was always a bad thing, not simply because she was terrified of Johnny—which admittedly everyone in Go City was—but also because she was trying to pay attention. Oh right, and Johnny was the only boy in school who seemed to be attracted to her. Lucky Sarah, right?

"Hey Dark Princess," he whispered amorously. Sarah had to resist the urge to vomit. She hated being hit on by Johnny Nathaniel and even worse she hated being accused of being gothic or evil just because of her hair and eyes.

"Stop calling me that and leave me alone!" She whispered back as intimidating as she could muster. Which actually came across about as aggressive and angry as a kitten begging for food after starving for a few weeks. Being intimidating was probably on the bottom of Sarah's "Well known for being" list. It was mostly because she just wasn't naturally aggressive.

Sure she had taken several martial arts classes since she was ten—it had been Heath's idea to help get her mind off of other issues—and was actually considered a prodigy by her instructor, when it came to fighting. She just didn't have the personality to muster up some kind of come back when she was being teased or picked on.

"Oh sorry Princess of Darkness, did I interrupt some kind of incantation? Are you calling Satan?" Johnny asked, a little too enthusiastically. Sarah nervously backed away to the edge of her seat, trying to ignore Johnny and focus on what the teacher was saying.

"Hey Dark Princess, how about we walk out of here and I'll show you how to really conjure up some spirits!" Sarah didn't know what was worse, the thought of having sex with Johnny Nathaniel or how disgustingly pathetic his pick up lines were. Sarah was about to retort when they heard a foot stamp at the front of the class.

"Mr. Nathaniel get back to your seat now!" Johnny stood up and threw his arms into the air dismissively, sneering at the teacher.

"Keep your wig on hag, I was just leaving," Sarah and the rest of the class watched in awe as Johnny simply walked out of class for what had to be the sixth time in the last two weeks. The other times he never even showed up. Sarah sighed in relief, at least that problem was solved. Oh! And today was Barry and her mom's anniversary! That meant Heath was going to be home and they were going to have real food! Now that Johnny was gone this was shaping up to be a very spankin' day!

* * *

Sarah lay in a lawn chair, curled up and reading her favorite book while her mom played with the twins by the tree house. Barry was standing over the grill making them some "real damn food" for once while Michael sat at the picnic table reading another one of his comic books. Heath still hadn't shown up yet, though if he had Sarah wouldn't have noticed, she was just way too into the story! 

"Honey I'm home!" Called out a rich baritone voice. Sarah snapped from her book and looked up, grinning from ear-to-ear as Heath walked in from the house and upon giving his father the obligatory pat on the shoulder and throwing a wave to everyone else, approached Sarah and plopped down into the lawn chair she'd set up for him.

"Oh! It's so good to be home, school is killing me," He muttered. Heath had waited a year before going to college, and as such was now in the home stretch of his junior year. Proud as she was of Heath's work ethic, given the jock stereotype—and yes he was going to school on a football scholarship—she couldn't resist prodding him in the side and sticking her tongue out playfully.

"Imagine that, you aren't afraid of four hundred pound guys in tights, but a book kicks your butt," Heath shook a fist playfully at Sarah, making her giggle and turn her attention back to her book.

"Man it's a bright day today," Heath commented out loud to no one in particular. He got several different responses, ranging from silent nods to mutterings of agreement and a "Who cares?" courtesy of Michael. Jennifer noticed a loose plank in the tree house and pulled Wally and Willy out, sending them over to the table where Michael was sitting, just as Barry set out the food for dinner.

"Barry! Honey I think one of the boards is loose, could you come look at it? The boys might get hurt!" Heath, knowing that Sarah liked to sometimes go to the tree house to do homework and just get away from it all, glanced at his sister to see that she was tensed up a little. Still in an impressive act of self control, learned from years of simply maturing and martial arts training she willed down the urge to snap back at her mother. Heath patted her shoulder, proud of her self control. Sarah smiled gratefully but didn't look away from the book, it was getting to the juicy part!

"Eh you're right, I'll have to fix that. Blast it is really hot today! Is the sun right on top of us?" Barry griped, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking up. What he saw froze him in his place. Jennifer, seeing him sudden rigid, came up behind him and followed his line of sight. There was a bright light in the sky, but it wasn't the sun. It was getting closer by the second.

"Kids get do-," She was cut off as a sound like a jet engine running full speed filled the sky. The Gordon siblings all looked up just in time to watch as a multi-colored, almost Easter-egg shaped rock hurled through the sky at unimaginable speeds toward their home.

"Mom, Dad! Look out!" Heath shouted, jumping up out of his seat and charging for his parents. Sarah got up and followed close behind, but the two only made it as far as the picnic table where their brothers were before disaster struck.

The resulting explosion was deafening, it knocked all five of the siblings to the ground and shook the entire city.

* * *

_But that wasn't the end, the comet didn't kill her. The comet couldn't kill her. Not now, not ever since she had become gifted. A great gift, an even greater twist in her story. Now all that remained, were the flames that consumed their home._

* * *

Sarah screamed in agony. It seemed like the entire world was on fire. She couldn't find Heath, Michael, Willy or Wally anywhere. She was completely alone, surrounded by a fire that was constantly changing color. First it was blazing red, then purple, then blue and finally a wicked shade of green. She tried to push herself off the ground, but the pain was unreal. Try as she might she couldn't stop screaming, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing, the blood from pumping, her heart from racing. She looked down at her hands and saw that her skin was beginning to change. Maybe it was just her eyes though because at that moment everything looked green to her. She pushed up onto her knees, still screaming like a banshee burning in Hell. The fire wasn't just surrounding her, it was on her! She was on fire! The pain was too much, too fast, she couldn't react, she could only scream. The green fire pouring from her skin hurt like nothing she'd ever felt in her life, and nothing she ever wanted to feel again, providing she survived. 

Sarah peered through the flames and her screams dulled to hysteric sobs when she finally saw that she wasn't alone. There was a man. He stood in the flames, or perhaps the flames stood in him. The green fire that was consuming her poured from every dark crevice on his body.

He wasn't very tall, and he was nothing more than a black silhouette. He did; however, have eyes. Eyes that were shiny red just like hers. The dark man was on fire, the fire was coming from the dark man. Sarah screamed once more as the man on fire spoke, his voice drenched with wickedness that seemed to spread to every dark corner of her mind and heart, like black sucking through her veins.

"**No more crying, now you have power,**" Sarah tried to respond, but the fiery nightmare all around her had become too much. There was a resounding snap, like thunder, as the man on fire disappeared into the flames and Sarah's world faded to black.

* * *

**Author's Note: By this point you've probably realized that unlike other Shego fans, I don't blame Hego for her becoming evil. Given how close they seem to be so far, how do they have a falling out? Well I actually have a reasonable answer to that and if you stick around, you'll see how my mind works.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Wrathchild I: The Man on Fire**_

**Deus Ex Procella**

* * *

_The blinding pain seemed to last an eternity. So great was her suffering that Sarah truly believed she had died and been thrown into the flames of Hell itself. But after what seemed like a life time of endless torment, the pain faded and left behind a glow. A glow so miraculous and so fantastic, it would reshape the lives of the now orphaned Gordon siblings. And would give birth to something greater than even they could imagine._

* * *

She groaned as consciousness began to once more fall on her like a lead weight from Heaven. All of her senses were kicked into overdrive, the slightest scent so strong she could taste it, the softest sound so intense it shook her awake far quicker than she wanted. And when at last her eyes creaked open, the moon hanging high above was like the blazing sun sitting inches away from her face. Sarah could only roll over and hiss. 

Despite all of her senses factoring far beyond the human threshold for comfort, and despite how sore and tired she felt, there was something strange about her. She felt like she had just run around the city several hundred times without breaking. She felt like she'd just gone a hundred rounds with Ivan Drago and somehow stumbled away from the ring. She felt…so alive! Despite the fatigue and pain it seemed like every nerve was pulsing with energy. She was so fatigued but at the same time so restless! She needed to get rid of all this pent up energy! She needed this…this high to wear off or she was going to pop!

Sarah's eyes creaked open and stared across the damp lawn. It was at this point her sense of touch returned and she realized she was freezing and wet. Sarah pushed herself into a sitting position, her eyes wandering mindlessly across the backyard. The ground was charred black, with little to no grass in sight. There was a huge crater where the tree house once stood, where the comet had hit. The comet! Her parents! Her brothers! The world felt like it was moving in slow motion as Sarah began to look around frantically, overwhelmingly aware of every movement her body made from the twist in her waist to the flick of each strand of hair.

She breathed a sigh of relief—it was the strangest thing. Her own voice sounded so loud and echoing, though she knew it couldn't have been loud at all—seeing Willy and Wally beginning to stir nearby. Once more moving like she was submerged in liquid, Sarah turned and saw that Michael was actually standing. She stared at him, then looked back at the twins. Something seemed different about them, but she couldn't tell what it was. Her gaze slowly traveled between them as she counted heads over and over again. Someone was missing…

"Good to see you're finally up and at 'em," She turned, nearly giving herself a headache from how quickly she spun. She fell to the side, dizzy from the quick movement, but looked up and saw the giant form of her big brother, bending over to check on her. Sarah smiled and once more sighed with relief feeling his cool hand wiping the sweat away from her forehead. Getting her bearings, Sarah grabbed onto Heath's arm and pulled to her feet, falling against him momentarily as her legs struggled to catch up with the rest of her body.

"Waoahppn?" She mumbled out dumbly. It felt so strange to actually speak, like she hadn't spoken a day in her life. Heath seemed to understand as he held her steady. It only took a few moments before her body caught up with her and her mobility returned somewhat. Sarah pulled away from Heath and looked around. Things were slowly coming back to normal. She was becoming less and less aware of her toenails and more aware of what was actually happening around her. Michael had moved over to check on the twins who were going through the same process she had been, trying to remember how to work their bodies.

"Whahappen?" She asked again, her mouth working a little better than before. She turned to Heath and noticed for the first time that something was very different about him…his hair was blue! Sarah's eyes widened and she had to close them for a few moments before looking again. Just like before, Heath's hair was navy blue. But…how did that happen? She opened her mouth to question this, but stopped when Heath shook his head and began to lead her away from the crater and towards their younger brothers.

"That comet…there's something important we need to talk about," He whispered, gesturing towards Michael and the twins. Sarah nodded, her eyes widening even further—if this was realistically possible—when she saw her younger brothers in detail. Michael's hair was now dark purple, and his skin was a lavender-esque shade. The twins now had red hair instead of brown, and their skin also had a reddish tint to it. Sarah rubbed her eyes sleepily and stumbled a bit. Thankfully, Heath caught her and once more held her steady until she could stand up straight again.

"Something…something big has happened guys," Heath began, getting the attention of his young siblings. They all looked up to him expectantly, even Sarah who was a teenager was staring at him just as childishly and in need as the boys. Heath sighed and began to lead them into the house, which had taken a severe beating from the comet falling.

The house had once been a very nice, two story building with a brick foundation and white walls. Blue shutters and a tire swing in front with the tree house out back, it was a very picturesque family home. Now the brick was charred black, the walls were punctured and burnt. The building shook with every breeze that blew bye and every drop of rain that hit it. Still, against his better judgment Heath took a chance with the house instead of the freezing rain, possibly caused by the heat from the comet hitting.

They arrived in the now soaking wet living room, Heath taking a seat in their father's recliner. Sarah merely collapsed against the couch while the three younger boys all took a seat on the soaking piece of furniture. Rain was still dripping in from the creaking ceiling, and blowing in from the giant hole in the wall. The entire house was freezing cold, but at least what still stood of it protected them from the full force of the rain. Sarah looked around, trying to picture how the living room used to look.

The carpet was once a very interesting shade of blue, with a light green wallpaper that oddly enough complimented the blue, whilst contrasting it at the same time. The carpet was now so damp it looked black, not to mention shrapnel from the cracked and beaten ceiling lay scattered throughout the room, further dirtying the carpet. The wallpaper was torn and shredded, making the house seem like it had been abandoned for years instead of being perfectly fine just…how long ago was it? That wasn't important…not with the ceiling creaking above them. That was what scared her most, the ceiling was making very ominous sounds, telling them that the second floor was going to become the first floor very soon.

Sarah looked up at her older brother. Heath looked…miserable. Whereas she, Michael and the twins were all left in a confused stupor, trying to remember their own names, Heath looked absolutely miserable. He sat with his face buried in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. Something was very wrong, but what? The ceiling creaked again! This was all very, very scary now…this was like a horror movie or a disaster movie. Something bad was going to happen, she just knew it!

"What happened?" Michael asked, voicing a question that Sarah had already asked twice before. Was it twice? She couldn't remember clearly…it may have been more than twice, or less, had she even asked the question at all? The energy-rush high was fading and she was coming down hard. Her brain was a soup bowl in a cold room, foggy and steamy, she could barely focus on a topic. Her parents had been outside, what happened to them? The comet had hit so suddenly they couldn't react, wait what happened to her book?

"I was getting there Michael," Heath finally spoke. His voice was so somber, so melancholy, so downright depressing that it caused all the fog in their heads to lift. And scared them more than all the destruction around them. Not even the comet hitting scared them like the sound of Heath's voice now. None of them could respond, and the tension hanging in the air as they waited for him to continue was practically palpable.

"When the comet hit…Mom and Dad weren't as lucky as we were…they…were at ground zero and they didn't make it. They're g-gone," Spoken just above a whisper, it was all that was needed to bring the other four to tears. The twins began bawling quite instantly, clinging to each other for comfort. Michael only sniffled to himself, trying for once to be ignored as he began to cry softly. Sarah only stared at Heath in horror, her eyes wide and trembling. No tears fell, why should they? She'd never been welcomed by her parents, she'd never felt any attachment to them. Still…the news was shocking at the very least.

"That's the worst news but there is something else that happened, more than just us looking different," Sarah's gaze fell down to her hands. Her skin was now pale green, but if that wasn't the weirdest thing about what happened to them what was? She remembered something vaguely, not just something but someone. While she'd been burning, there was someone…someone was standing in the flames with her. Was it Heath? No it was someone…mean, someone evil. It was someone worse than even Johnny Nathaniel, who was the epitome for scary thus far in Sarah's life.

"The man on fire," Sarah whispered. These words caused something to stir deep inside her. Sarah felt a rush of heat traveling from her belly up through her arms and to the tips of her fingers. Suddenly her hands began to glow bright green, causing the boys to stop crying and causing Heath's eyes to raise to look at her. The glow only lasted for a few moments as a gentle light before her hands burst into green flames. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, no sound but the wind blowing and the rain falling. Then the realization that her hands were on fire slowly dawned on Sarah and she did what anyone in her situation would do: she screamed and swung her hands wildly to try to put out the fire.

"Oh my God!!" What tears she didn't shed for the loss of her parents, she shed now for fear of her own life. She swung her hands mightily and caused the fire to fly away and crash into the crumbling wall. Her teary eyes widened and when a resounding snap was heard every eye rose to the ceiling to watch as a large piece plummeted down towards them. Sarah, the twins and Michael all screamed and covered their heads, waiting for the inevitable surge of pain and death to collapse on them. When it never came, Willy was the first to open his eyes and look up, into the blue light that was holding the falling death just above them.

"Wow…" He whispered. Sarah, Wally, and Michael all opened their eyes, they too reacting in awe to see Heath standing over them and holding up the debris with glowing blue hands. Easily as an elephant throwing a chipmunk, Heath tossed it lightly aside and let the blue glow surrounding his hands fade.

"W-Woah! Heath that was amazing!" Sarah gushed, her fear replaced by childish admiration. Heath smiled and sat back in the recliner, frowning at the hole in the ceiling that let them see the second floor ceiling very clearly. More rain was pouring in, but thankfully not enough to be dangerous.

"That was the other thing I needed to tell you about," Heath looked down at his hands and willed them to glow again. Unfortunately no such luck, he had only been reacting instinctively before. "Somehow when I need it, my hands begin to glow and I become super strong," He looked up at Sarah, "Your hands were glowing green and somehow you created that fireball thing," He then looked at Michael and the twins.

"When I first got up, I saw you glowing purple Michael, and the twins were glowing red. I think something very frightening has happened to us. We need to get help soon-," he was cut off abruptly hearing Michael gasp and jump up from the couch.

"We have super powers?! That's so awesome! I wonder what my power is? I bet it's amazing!" Like always Michael's first person pronouns were enunciated to ensure everyone knew how _he _felt. Sarah looked down at her hands and then grinned up at Heath.

"Yeah…we have superpowers…we could-," She glared when Michael jumped forward and cut her off.

"We could be superheroes! I bet I'd be the most amazing, most coolest superhero ever!" Once more gesturing wildly to himself. The twins sat, not entirely understanding what was going on, which Heath figured would probably be a good thing until he had to explain this again to them when they were older.

"Superheroes…we shouldn't guys I know it sounds like-," Heath stopped, seeing the looks he was getting from Sarah and Michael.

"But, we've got these powers right Heath? It would be selfish to not help people with them…right?" Sarah was trying to maintain a selfless exterior about the superhero idea, but Heath saw through it. For both Sarah and Michael he knew exactly what being a superhero would mean. For Michael, it would mean that people would just _have_ to notice him, just _have_ to see him. For Sarah…it meant more, something more than just attention. She had plenty of attention, she could get attention, that wasn't what she wanted out of it.

"Do you really think people would accept us if we did?" He was asking both of them, but Sarah knew immediately that he was posing the question to her specifically. Acceptance, that was what this could mean. She wouldn't be that "goth chick" anymore, she wouldn't be the "Dark Princess" anymore, she'd be someone people would like, someone people would admire and accept.

"It's the right thing to do right?" She asked, but it wasn't really a question. It was a statement. Heath was impressed to say the least. As little as she got, Sarah had a quite remarkable belief in justice, in doing the right thing. It was very admirable. Still, he shook his head and looked away from them.

"It would be too hard, you're all still in school…it's going to be hard enough finding a new home and making sure we don't get split up," Michael had already stopped listening, and to be honest Sarah had her own daydreams filling her head, keeping her from paying very close attention to what Heath was saying.

"So!? Everyone would love us! We could save people and get cats from trees and sign autographs and meet the president and all the cool things superheroes get to do!" Heath shook his head again, still not convinced. Honestly, it didn't sound like a _bad _idea par se, there was just so much red tape he'd have to handle. Sarah stood up and walked over to Heath, giving him her best begging pout. Heath avoided looking at her as long as he could, but finally glanced up and saw it. Hook line and sinker, Sarah had already won. He sighed and rubbed his temples then waved a hand in a surrendering gesture, looking at the two.

"What would we even call ourselves?" Sarah and Michael each did their own manner of celebration, seeing that they'd worn Heath's defenses down. Michael didn't miss a beat, jumping up and posing dramatically.

"We'd be the G Team!" Not just Sarah and Heath but also the twins looked at him in confusion, "What? We're a team and our last name starts with G! We'd be G Team! It's the best name ever!" Sarah rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out, earning her a glare from Michael. She turned back to Heath with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well if we're going that route, how about Team Go?" She asked, shrugging. Heath raised an eyebrow. Michael groaned and looked at Heath like he'd just misspelled "it".

"Duh! This is Go City and we'd be their superheroes so Team Go!!" He looked at Sarah, losing his cocky attitude quickly, "Right? That's what it was right? I am so awesome I knew I was right!" Sarah shook her head, but then turned to Heath and nodded.

"That's…what I was thinking really," Heath looked at the two. Michael seemed to approve of the name, by this point probably thinking it was really his idea. He bit his tongue and couldn't resist smirking.

"What would our superhero names be?"

* * *

_Having convinced the de facto head of the household to create a superhero team, Team Go was founded on that stormy night in a dilapidated building—which was promptly condemned the next morning. Unbeknownst to his siblings, Heath dropped out of college and got a full time job at Bueno Nacho to help support the family. Also without their knowing, he fought and won several legal battles to get custody of his siblings and find a reasonable place for them to live._

_Financial hardships aside, life remained fairly routine to the Gordon siblings. The first great battle they faced as Team Go was the assignment of superhero identities. Michael and Sarah had argued endlessly, until Heath—in what was originally a joke—suggested calling himself Hego. Sarah, seeing what he had done where Michael couldn't, found the Pronoun-Go pattern quite clever and in a two to one vote, which the twins did not participate in, the teammates received their superhero names._

_Now dubbed Hego, Shego, Mego and Wego—the twins shared a single name—the next great battle took place in deciding on costumes for them to wear to hopefully protect their identities, though the different colored skin certainly made this very, very difficult. Nothing a bakers fortune in makeup couldn't cover, but still a hassle none the less._

_However, the day of Team Go's big break into the superhero business would come before they agreed on a costume design, it would happen so quickly that years later they would argue about what really happened. Team Go finally became official superheroes the day they first faced who would one day be their arch nemesis: Aviarius._

* * *

Sarah Gordon barreled down the sidewalk, more grateful than ever that school had let out. She had important business to attend to and if school had dragged on just a moment longer, she'd never have a hope in this or any other world of reaching her destination in time. As she ducked and pivoted around the people in her way—also grateful for her continuing martial arts classes—she clutched her library book close to her chest. She'd checked it out nearly two weeks ago, and she had about five minutes to race across town before it was overdue! 

Oh God, her first overdue library book! Mr. Richardson would never trust her again! Losing her library privileges, it was a fate much worse than death! Especially since the book belonged to Mr. Richardson personally! Sarah, to cope with the stress following the comet crashing, had finally broken down and checked out a romance novel that Mr. Richardson had recommended. Despite her aversion to mushy and romantic things she had fallen in love with the genre thanks to that one book. She had ended up reading it nearly thirteen times, and now it was going to be turned in late! Man, someone had to have a grudge against her!

"Huh?" She skid to a halt when she noticed a very peculiar scene. There were police cars surrounding the Go City History Museum. While that was exciting enough, what made the scene odd was that the officers were pinned down by what looked like miniature vultures that were spitting some very, very disgusting pellets at the officers. Judging by the dents in the cars, the officers were in very real danger if they got hit. And quick as the birds were it was hard to get a decent shot on them. Sarah's eyes—which now thanks to the comet had lost their evil red color and were now emerald green—widened. This was it, this was the big break they needed!

Though they had formed Team Go nearly a month ago, the siblings were only superheroes in concept. They hadn't actually done anything for the city to credit them as super "heroes". But this, this looked like the classic work of a super villain! And where there was a super villain, super heroes were needed! This was going to be their big break! Sarah looked around frantically and quickly ducked into an alley and hid behind a dumpster, thankful that there weren't any thugs waiting to attack her. With shaky hands she got out her cell phone and hit the speed dial. While the phone dialed, Sarah opened her backpack and pulled out what acted as her temporary costume. Just a tight green sweatshirt, some black gloves and a black "Lone Ranger" style mask, but it got the job done.

"Hello! Bueno Nacho, how may I help you?" Came an overly cheery voice on the phone. Sarah got some wet wipes out of her backpack and began scrubbing fiercely at her face, trying to get the make up off.

"Hego! This is Shego, we have a situation!" Sarah hissed into the phone as she began pulling her sweatshirt on. There was a pause on the other line.

"Sarah? Is that you?" Sarah rolled her eyes and pulled on her gloves.

"I'm Shego right now Heath! I have to stay in character so no one finds out my identity!"

"Right…what's the problem?" Sarah put on her mask, completing the transformation into Shego as she tried to calm herself down.

"There's a super villain robbing the museum! I'm going to try to slow him down but I need you, Mego, and Wego to help stop him!" She heard nervous shifting on the other end of the line.

"I'm in the middle of work Sarah I can't just…"

"Hego!"

"Alright, alright, I'll figure something out…I'll get the guys and we'll be there as soon as we can," Shego nodded and hung up her phone, stuffing it and her book into her backpack, which she hid as well as she could.

"Okay…here goes nothing Sarah…just be Shego, be Shego, be Shego," She took a deep breath and peered out of the alley to watch what was happening now. The man who was robbing the museum had come out. Shego had to actually double-take upon seeing him. To say his costume was strange was to really underestimate just how ridiculous he looked. The man looked like a giant bird…great her first day as an official superhero and she had to deal with a bird guy. This wasn't going to end well.

Shego stepped out of the alley and began to approach the scene. She could hear the man now, his voice was nearly as insane as his costume!

"Fools! Tremble before the might of Aviarius! Go my Mini-Nutties! Destroy these insolent fools!" Shego sweated nervously. Okay so it seemed like fool was the only insult he knew, but still there were a lot of birds and they looked dangerous too! I mean they were putting dents in cars for crying out loud!

"Uh," She froze when she attempted to make her grand entrance. She just couldn't do it, she was too scared. If she fought the birdman face-to-face she could probably beat him. She didn't doubt her martial arts abilities, nor the power of her plasma bolts. But…if she walked out there he'd just laugh at her and she'd be pelted by death spit. Sarah just wasn't intimidating enough to be a hero! She had to wait, but he was going to get away! But she couldn't fight him…but he was going to escape and she was just going to stand there! That's stupid! Don't be such an idiot, doy! Feeling confident now, Shego stepped out and what happened next surprised her more than anyone else.

"Hahaha! Foolish humans! You are no match for Aviarius now let me through!" Before the bird-clad man could take another step forward, everyone froze seeing a ball of green fire hurling through the air and crashing into one of the Mini-Nutties, knocking it to the ground unconscious. "What? Who dares attack my birds? Who do you think you are to attack Aviarius?!"

"Oh give me a break, if you were actually dangerous instead of just obsessed with talking all the time I might actually be just a teensy bit worried! Doy! Did we get screwed on super villains?" Aviarius, along with the entire police force looked up to see a teenage girl in black shorts, sneakers and a green sweatshirt with a Lone Ranger style mask shaking her head at them—as if that wasn't strange enough, she also had pale green skin. Shego herself simply went with the flow, noting the sarcastic, edgy sound to her voice. She'd never sounded like this before!

"You know, if you guys were a little more useless you might actually wrap back around and be worth the tax money we pay for you!" Shego walked through the officers, sneering and looking down at all of the alleged law enforcers. She turned her fiery green gaze to the super villain and sneered.

"Man, I still can't believe how sad this is, pinned down by birds," Aviarius had finally gotten over the initial shock of the verbal abuse he was receiving and was prepared to dish out some feather covered payback on the smart mouth brat insulting him!

"Stupid girl! Who do you think you are? You're no match fo-," He stopped, watching her mouth along with him mockingly. Shego shook her head and sneered.

"Blah, blah, blah, look could you do everyone a favor and just stop talking? I swear your monologues are more deadly than your stupid birds!" Aviarius was appalled! This was simply not how things were done! He would not stand for this!

"Mini-Nutties! Get that brat!" The Mini-Nutties all turned to Shego and fired the deadly spit they'd held the officers down with at her. Shego grinned a goblin's smirk and her hands began to glow fierce green. With one swing of a glowing hand she vaporized the incoming projectiles. Needless to say, Aviarius was just a little taken aback.

"What? How did you do that? Mini-Nutties! Fire! Fire! Fire! Don't let her insult us like this!" Shego narrowed her eyes and dodge rolled away from the first wave of nuts fired at her. She gathered burning plasma into her palm and hurled it into the army of Mini-Nutties, hitting one and dropping it as easily as the first. Unfortunately the numbers were still very intimidating and enough to keep her on the move to avoid getting knocked out.

"Hahaha! That's right! Run little girl! You can't fight Aviarius! I am invincibuh?" Aviarius' boasting came to a halt when he saw a telephone booth come flying through the air and take out a good portion of his Mini-Nutty army. "What the f-," Shego looked up with an annoyed sneer as her comrades joined her. Hego, the blue-clad hero, wore a mask just like Shego's still wearing his tan slacks from his work uniform, but now revealing the skin tight blue muscle shirt he'd been wearing beneath it. The Wegos were dressed identically, both having been at little league practice, still wearing their red baseball caps and jean shorts, but with identical red jerseys pulled on over their actual team shirts. Mego was nowhere to be found, however, which brought a groan from Shego.

"Where in the world is Mego? Doy! I knew that idiot couldn't pull himself away from the mirror long enough to do this! Gah! He makes me so mad!" Hego stared at his sister in disbelief. Since when was Sarah this sarcastic and snippy? Shego looked up at him and briefly behind the mask he saw her give him a subtle wink. It took him a few moments to process the meaning of this gesture but when it set in, a grin spread across his face as an idea came to mind.

"Mego will be here sis, but we have more important matters!" Hego declared in a very bold, stereotypical justice hero voice. Shego nearly doubled over laughing hearing it and Wego looked at their older brother like he was nuts. "You may have enjoyed roosting in Go City while it was warm bird brain! But now the winter winds of justice have come to send you flying South!" Shego's cheeks were noticeably a darker shade of green as she struggled to hold in laughing. Wego, for all their effort, couldn't resist laughing. Aviarius thankfully misinterpreted this as them laughing at him.

"You would dare insult Aviarius?!" Hego crossed his arms and flashed a smile that would make Superman jealous—it was just that cheesy.

"Team Go is here to pluck your feathers, Aviarius! Now go Team Go!" Shego rolled her eyes and sneered at Hego, despite how hard it was to keep from laughing.

"Could you be a bigger idiot, Hego?" Hego looked back at her in confusion.

"What? What did I say?" Shego only shook her head and walked back into the fray. Hego shrugged, then broke character long enough to notice a giant bird heading their way. "Oh snap!" He got his hands up just in time to bat away the talons of the giant condor preparing to murder him. Shego saw the condor and turned to Wego, pointing at the Mini-Nutties.

"Make yourselves useful and take those things out!" Wego looked at each other then flashed Shego a thumbs up each.

"We got it!"

"Get the birds!" Wego began to glow bright red and in a flash the two became four, and then eight. Now there were as many Wegos as there were Mini-Nutties, which obviously had the birds confused as the five-year-old army charged them—complete with an overzealous battle cry that only a child could muster. Aviarius took a step back and watched as Hego managed to grab the legs of his condor and begin to pull it to the ground while Shego had hopped onto the bird's back to aid in grounding it. Wego was easily keeping up with his Mini-Nutties and when one fell thanks to a rock thrown at its head, he reasoned it was only a matter of time before the rest fell.

"Darn it! This wasn't supposed to happen! Never mind! I won't let these heroes capture Aviarius! I'll make my-," Aviarius stopped, hearing a throat clear behind him. He turned and watched as a purple glow near his feet suddenly grew into a nine-year-old boy clad in a purple, baggy long-sleeved shirt and black jeans with a mask to match the other members of Team Go.

"You have to go through me first!" Mego enunciated his first person pronouns like always, "Bye, Bye birdie!" Before Aviarius could react a fist slammed into a very…delicate place on his body, which wasn't given extra protection by his costume. Falling to the ground and clutching himself painfully, Mego dusted his hands off and glared at his siblings as they finish taking out the birds.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I took out the real villain! I am so the coolest!" The others glared at Mego while the police rushed up to take Aviarius into custody. Before the siblings could react they were attacked by the most evil force in the universe: the press.

Now out of costume, though without make-up reapplied to hide skin tone, the family of five had piled into Heath's car so that he could drop them off at home before returning to work. Michael was bragging to the twins—and Heath and Sarah but they weren't listening—about his plan while Sarah stared out the window watching the scenery go by. A smile tugged at his lips from the moment they got out of costume and now it was just too much to keep in.

"Did you really say, doy?" Sarah looked up in shock and blushed fiercely, which resulted in her skin becoming a dark shade of green.

"Yeah…I don't know where that came from," Heath glanced at her and shook his head. Sarah groaned and gave him an exasperated look, "Okay so I got stage fright! And so…when I went to finally do something I just opened my mouth and this snarky voice came out! It seemed to work so I just went with it!" Heath shrugged and continued to smile as she glanced at her again.

"I never said it was a bad thing, just that it was different," Sarah nodded, then looked back at Heath.

"Hey! What was up with you being the biggest lamer on the planet?" Heath grinned and focused on the road.

"Well if you were going to role-play so was I. That attitude fits for Shego, so I figured Hego would be the Superman archetype, you know? Shego's the rebellious one, and Hego's the obsessive justice guy, it just makes sense," Saran snickered, then giggled, then burst into full out laughter.

"We're so lame! Making up characters for our superhero identities!" She managed to choke out between laughs. Heath shrugged and drummed on the steering wheel.

"Whatever gets the media talking," Sarah nodded, and reached for her backpack. Whatever giggles she had left vanished when she realized something very important.

"Oh my God I forgot my backpack!"

"Hang on guys!" The U-Turn that followed would leave all four of the younger Gordons forever weary of Heath's driving ability, and would one day justify Shego manning their transportation upon getting her license.

* * *

_Shortly after he finished work that day, Heath returned home to find the mayor of Go City waiting to speak with him. The conversation that followed negotiated just how Team Go could protect the city, and what benefits if any the mayor was capable of giving them. At first, pure thirst to do the right thing kept Heath from accepting any kind of reward, but after heated negotiation the mayor finally wore him down and the team was given something they desperately needed._

_It took a little over two weeks, but Go Tower was built to be a safe haven for the heroes. Along with it came new costumes, costumes specially designed for the rough and tumble life of a hero. With a home that was paid for by the city, and new uniforms to help establish themselves, Team Go had reached a pivotal moment in their history. It seemed like they should be on top of the world. Unfortunately, as things picked up for their superhero identities, life remained very much unchanged for who they really were._

_Which is why, after two years of drifting through school and having no real friends to confide in Sarah was amazed to meet Judy Nails. She was such a strange girl, not unlike Sarah herself. Despite her quirks—such as an inability to stay out of a fight when provoked—she was one of the few people Sarah could actually call her friend, outside of her brothers of course. Okay, to be perfectly honest she was Sarah's only friend and also happened to be aware that Sarah was Shego. They clicked very shortly after meeting, and thanks to the fiery red-head—actually Judy admitted that she didn't remember her natural hair color, red was just the choice for now—Sarah managed to make it through the day with far fewer vocalized insults._

_Sarah had finally reached a new high in life. Now a new dilemma awaited, one that could make or break the shaky foundation her life was built upon._

* * *

"Hey Sarah!" Sarah stopped and turned with a broad smile plastered on her face. It was amazing how a simple greeting from a single person could make an otherwise horrible day very pleasant. Judy skid to a halt in front of Sarah and threw her arm around her friend's shoulders as the two strolled through the halls of Go City High School. 

"Man you move fast when you're zoned out kid, I'm out of breath!" Sarah rolled her eyes and faced forward with a small smile on her lips. Judy noticed and grinned, pinching Sarah's cheek, making her blush—which was covered by the make-up—and shake her head to ward of Judy's hand, but the red head didn't make a second attempt.

"You're so cute when you try to ignore me. So who are you going to the spring formal with?" Had Judy grown a third head—ignoring that she didn't even have a second head—and begun to spew flames from her nose, Sarah's gaze couldn't be more incredulous. Judy didn't seem to notice, her arm still hung casually around Sarah's shoulders while she "checked out" practically every male they went by. Sarah shook her head and groaned.

"Like I've got a date, Judy, you should know better than that by now,"

"I should, but I thought we'd already covered that I wasn't a very fast learner," she replied without missing a beat. Sarah shook her head, but didn't argue. Not to insult Judy's intelligence, but the girl really wasn't the brightest bulb in the storage closet. At least when it came to school work…when it came to other things, Sarah only blushed imaging how well learned Judy really was. She snapped out of her thoughts when she received a rough shake. She glared at Judy, who only grinned and waved a finger in Sarah's face.

"No zoning out Ruby, next time I'm going to pin you against the lockers and tickle you until you wet yourself," Sarah stiffened noticeably, though she tried to avoid swallowing the lump in her throat. Thinking quickly, to hopefully avoid public humiliation at the hands of her best friend, she came back with an old argument.

"Why do you keep calling me that? Ruby's are red, Judy," Judy grinned and stretched mightily and yawned as the two walked into the bright sunlight, finally free of the oppression constraints of public education.

"Whatever you say, your eyes used to be red, that's enough for me," Sarah groaned and held her forehead. Judy grinned and patted her friend's shoulder comfortingly. She then gripped it decisively and walked with Sarah to her car. Sarah, thanks to already technically having Team Go's supped up hero car, didn't have her own car, and thus got a ride from Judy for practically everything. As she plopped down in the passengers seat and put on her seatbelt, glancing nervously at the potentially insane girl behind the wheel.

"Seatbelt Judy," Judy moaned over dramatically, but conceded and put on her seatbelt.

"I swear having a superhero for a friend can be really annoying," Sarah didn't respond, already zoned out again, staring out the window. Zoning out was probably her favorite pass-time, after reading and saving the city of course. Judy decided to be nice for once and actually drove like she was remotely sane.

"So you're going to the spring formal," Judy said. At first Sarah thought it was a question and prepared to decline, but seeing the look on Judy's face let her know otherwise.

"I told you I don't have a date, I can't go to a dance without a date," Judy shrugged.

"That's not my problem. Go with me if you're that worried about your non-existent 'rep'," Sarah actually laughed at that idea, earning her a confused look from Judy. "What? What's so funny?"

"Oh right, so instead of showing up without a boy and coming across as pathetic I show up with a girl and expect to not get flack for that?" Sarah couldn't believe Judy! Out of the frying pan and into the fire, that was all that could describe that idea! Judy raised an eyebrow and slammed on the breaks at the next stoplight, causing Sarah to buck forward and nearly bang her head on the dashboard. She promptly straightened up and glared daggers at Judy.

"What was that for?!" Sarah's anger became confusion when she saw that Judy actually looked angry. Being barely capable of handling her own emotions, Sarah dug into her backpack and got some wipes to begin getting her make up off while glancing at Judy worriedly every once in a while. "What's wrong? What'd I say?" Judy didn't reply, she just kept glaring at the road. About the only movement she made was a snarl that tugged at her lips every time they came to a stop, which was always abrupt.

"What? Judy I'm sorry, what'd I say?"

"I wasn't joking," Sarah was confused for a few moments, then she figured what Judy must be talking about and her mouth took a distinctive "o" shape.

"Oh that…sorry it just," Sarah nearly lost her lunch as the car suddenly jerked to the side and came to a skidding halt at the side of the road. In seconds Judy shifted into park and shut the car off, turning and glaring at Sarah.

"Just what? What exactly is going to this dance going to do to your reputation? Hell, Sarah you and I are already about as popular as _The Cable Guy_, how could us showing up together at a dance that most people take **way** too seriously hurt us? I mean if you don't want to go that's fine, I just wanted to see you actually have fun for once!" Sarah looked away the minute Judy began speaking, unable to face her, let alone argue with her. She swallowed slowly and glanced back at Judy, seeing that she was still staring at her angrily, expecting a reply.

"I have fun…" was all she could say, perhaps the weakest reply imaginable. Of course, in the tone that Sarah had spoken with people would have been more inclined to believe that Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster were camping out with Elvis than her. Judy turned back to the road and gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Fine, then do it for me," Sarah looked back and found that thankfully Judy wasn't looking at her anymore. If that had made her feel any better, seeing the look on Judy's face crushed any good feelings she may have had. Feeling guilty and selfish now, Sarah sighed and smiled as convincingly as she could.

"Well I mean, I guess I could go if you want me to. Who knows? It might be fun…" Judy glanced at Sarah, who was staring back hopefully. A sly smirk spread on Judy's face and before Sarah could ask, the car fired up and with a quick shift the two peeled out back into traffic, Sarah jerking forward and once again nearly banging her head against the dashboard.

"That is not funny! Doy! Why do I hang out with you?!" Judy grinned as they approached Go Tower.

"Someone has to teach you how to lighten up," Sarah rolled her eyes and tried to feign annoyance, but it failed and both ended up in a laughing fit by the time they came to a stop at the tower.

* * *

_Over the course of the week, so much of Sarah and Judy's time was spent thinking about the upcoming Spring Formal that they never noticed a disturbing piece of news that had come to light. In fact, most of Go City neglected what could have been the most important piece of news in the city's history. But why should they have read it? The story was simply a paragraph on the eighth page, barely a head and no picture. It was sold as perhaps the least interesting article every written, when quite frankly one day Sarah would regret having not seen it._

_The article spoke of a sixteen-year-old boy who was caught breaking into Go University's research science lab. While this may seem like no big deal, a struggle ensued between the boy and the students who found him. During the course of the fight, they managed to knock over several chemicals, including an experimental fuel source, which resulted in an explosion that only partially damage the lab. Why this was made so little known was simple._

_None of the students were hurt, nothing valuable was broken and the boy who had broken in had mysteriously vanished. Should his parents be worried? Of course not, no one every worried about Johnny. In fact, most of the city would be grateful if Johnny was never seen again. So, in hopes that he was gone for good, no one went looking for Johnny._

_That…was a mistake._

* * *

**Author's Note: Still wondering how Shego became evil? The next, and final, chapter will explain everything.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Wrathchild I: The Man on Fire**

**Deus Ex Procella**

* * *

Sarah had been waiting for that day with a growing trepidation that everyone around her was terribly aware of. More than others, Heath noticed the difference in his sister's behavior. At first, he simply signed it off to anxiety born from the prospect of spending an evening in the company of her peers and classmates, something Sarah had managed to avoid at all costs in her two years in high school. Now with her sophomore year coming to a close, Judy had convinced her to break habit and take part in a school gathering, a dance no less! Still, he couldn't remember a time he was more happy for her. Anxious as she was, he could tell Sarah was very much excited. And now the day had come with a vengeance, and Sarah was running late! 

"Sarah! Judy's here, she's got the car running!" Heath called out through the Go Tower. Judy, lounging in Shego's seat at the meeting table, rolled her eyes.

"Don't freak her out even more, she's already going to be crazy enough tonight," Heath chuckled and returned to leaning back in his seat and working the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

"Just teasing her, she should know that if your car was running you'd have dragged her out of her room by now," Judy put her arms behind her head and inspected her appearance, glancing up at Heath for his opinion.

"How do I look?" Heath looked over the paper and looked over Judy's red dress. He finally shrugged and pulled the paper back up into his line of sight.

"Very slutty, I'm sure she'll love it," Judy laughed and pumped her arm victoriously. Heath rolled his eyes and smiled, glancing up as they heard Sarah stopping just outside the meeting room.

"Come in already, you two are passed fashionably late at this point," Both could practically hear Sarah's hesitation. There was an uncomfortable moment of waiting, which resolved quickly when Sarah finally got up the courage to come into the room. She immediately flushed bright green when almost on cue her brother and best friend wolf whistled and hooted over her appearance. Sarah crossed her arms self-consciously over her chest. Judy winked and looked Sarah over, mentally giving her props on the dark green, strapless dress. She could immediately see why Sarah felt so self-conscious, the dress cut off several inches above her knees and with her arms out of the way gave a rather generous view of her cleavage.

"Nice Shego, but you might want to put some clothes on before we go," Sarah looked ready to crawl into a hole and die, but thankfully Judy ceased verbally tormenting her, putting an arm over Sarah's shoulders and leading her for the door. "I'm just kidding Sheg', you look great. I'll have her home before too late He-Man," Heath waved without looking up, but both could hear the smile in his voice.

"Have fun girls, don't do anything I wouldn't do," Sarah rolled her eyes and blushed again seeing the look on Judy's face.

"Don't worry Boy Scout, we aren't planning on burning down the gymnasium or something fun like that," Heath shook his head, still smiling as the two left and shortly after he heard the car leaving.

* * *

_The night began much as either could have expected. Neither one was greeted warmly by their fellow classmates, but just as well their peers ignored the two. Little acknowledgement of their existence was made short of a glare here and a snide comment under one's breath there. Sarah and Judy for the most part ignored them all, intending to make this one school event a night they would never forget._

_They succeeded._

* * *

The night was beginning to wind down, and as such what had once been fast and upbeat music toned down with the lighting to allow couples and friends to enjoy the comfort of the night. Sarah and Judy were shamelessly slow dancing together, the former with her eyes closed enjoying what had turned out to be a very enjoyable evening. Judy watched Sarah intently, smiling very faintly. She was right, this was just what Sarah needed. Judging by the way the two danced, no one would have guessed they were only friends sharing the evening together. 

Sarah was leaning against the shorter girl, her head on Judy's shoulder, with a joyful expression on her face, her eyes closed gently. Her arms were around Judy's neck, seemingly ignorant of the suggestive closeness between them. Her friend, on the other hand, was very aware and very happy about this closeness. She rested her head against Sarah's, holding her closely and protectively. One hand gently rubbed the small of the superheroes back while the other lightly trailed up and down her spine, very soothingly scratching Sarah's back, which periodically elicited a sigh from her best friend.

"So was this a good idea?" Judy whispered, somewhat afraid to break the comforting silence between them. Sarah nodded and pulled back, looking at Judy and smiling broadly.

"Yeah, I'm really glad you talked me into coming here," Judy grinned and hugged Sarah a little tighter, her grin widening a bit when the superhero blushed.

"See? Thou shalt not doubt the Judy," Sarah giggled softly and nodded again.

"I guess so, how can I make it up to you?" Judy's grin faltered and melted into a very small smile. Sarah was a little confused, trying to figure out just what the light was in Judy's eyes. There was something, something she just couldn't decipher.

"Well there's…something," Sarah cocked her head in a manner that Judy thought adorable. The confused look in her eyes only adding to the endearing image. The song changed to something faster, but Judy and Sarah ignored it. The latter from confusion and the former not wanting to ruin the mood.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a long time Sheg', it's been really hard not to," Sarah's cheeks heated up. Her mouth was opening and closing just slightly, trying to find the words to speak. The tone of Judy's voice was…so surreal, so soft, nothing like Judy sounded normally. Finally when her vocal chords deemed it appropriate to resume working, Sarah managed only a barely audible "What?" before once more forgetting how to speak. Judy's smile seem to radiate an unexplainable feeling that echoed deep inside Sarah. Try as she might she couldn't reject nor accept it as the distance between their lips closed slowly and smoothly.

Then, as if by some freakish act of fate, an explosion rocked the gymnasium, knocking Judy on top of Sarah. Unlike the cliché would dictate, their lips did not meet at any point in their embarrassing collapse on the floor. Judy managed to pull away from Sarah and both sat up, looking around frantically. Everyone in the room looked hysteric and it was very clear why. A wall of the gym was blazing, though the source was indeterminable. Sarah stared in shock, but Judy's eyes fell upon a shadowed figure slipping through the forbidden exit to the basement. Not a beat was lost as Judy grabbed Sarah's hand and began to drag them through the crowd to the door.

"What!? Judy slow down! Ouch! Judy I can't run in these shoes slow down! What's wrong!?" Sarah protested, only giving Judy minor resistance as the redhead led them into the basement, working their way down the musty, slippery steps.

"I saw someone come down here! I bet they were responsible for the fire!"

"Why is that our problem?"

"Um! Hello! You're the superhero!" Sarah lowered her eyes and nodded, not for the first time wishing she could play the civilian again. Alas, that was one of the major drawbacks to becoming a hero. You had to investigate even the scariest places if it could stop the bad guy. Sarah pulled away from Judy and continued down the stairs just a step behind her best friend. Judy looked driven, ignoring the screams and sound of sirens above. Sarah tried to focus these things out, like Judy was, but couldn't slip into "Shego" mode. It was hard to make the switch while feeling so strange.

"Hey! You there stop!" Judy called out through the darkness. Sarah stopped and looked ahead, but she couldn't see anyone. Hearing a noise behind her she turned to look, then just as she was turning to tell Judy their presence was a mistake, she heard what sounded like a very faint "pop" in the air.

Time stood still. Sarah was sickeningly aware of every intricate detail of the situation, from the smell of ash in the air, the soft sizzle of something igniting, and above all else the horrifying heat that she felt, led by a wall of fire that erupted just in front of Judy. Sarah watched the room begin to drown in flames, smoke choking away any breathable air nearby. All of this meant nothing as time picked up pace once again. Sarah rushed through the flames, ducking down and cradling Judy's motionless form.

"Judy? Judy! Judy wake up! Judy say something!"

"Oops, was that too much?" The voice was so inhumanly pleased with the situation. There was no way it could even pretend to be human. Sarah looked up through the flames, her eyes blazing with fury as the figure stepped through the smoke and flames. Her breath caught in her throat and she could only look in sheer terror at the figure now standing before her.

His hair was black once upon a time, now it was a puke green color. Swept to one side with his bangs falling down to cover his left eye. He wore an eerie grin on his lips, one that would haunt Sarah's nightmares forever. This abomination clothed himself in a red sleeveless shirt with a giant anarchy symbol scrawled on the center in black. Jean shorts and black and white sneakers completed this wretched creature's attire. If not for the smoke coming from his hands there would be nothing spectacular about him, but that smirk and those eyes.

"J-Johnny…" Sarah whispered, cradling Judy protectively. Johnny Nathaniel grinned and pinched one side of his nose, blowing a stream of flaming snot to the ground. He hit himself in the head several times then took a deep drag from the smoke in the air, sighing contentedly.

"Hey Dark Princess, I heard you were in the superhero game so I thought I'd drop by," He somehow managed to glare and grin at her simultaneously, a chilling effect that left the already emotional Sarah shaking with growing fear and a very subtle, but quickly building rage.

"So Punkin', you sick of the old bad guys? Don't worry, Johnny Napalm is here to make life way more fun," Sarah stared in disbelief. Johnny Nathaniel had been missing for nearly a year now, and there were rumors going around to say he had gotten himself killed recently. How could…how could he have done this?

"Johnny…how…how did…how could you…" She tried to speak, but maybe from the heat of the flames or the choking hold of the smoke she was finding it hard to even utter a sound. Johnny held up his hands and very casually snapped his fingers. Sarah looked on in horror as flames erupted around Johnny's hands, once more filling the air with the thick smell of ash. He grinned and held his hand out, gesturing lazily and causing flames to leap through midair and smash a broken floor buffer. Johnny grinned and looked back at Sarah.

"I hope you like it, Sheegie, cause this I just the beginning. I wanna find out how long it takes to burn a whole building down…heheheh seeya later Dark Princess," Johnny turned and left through the flames, leaving behind Sarah. She held up a hand, the other cradling Judy's broken form defensively. Green light erupted around her clenched fist and a whiff of ozone filled the air, plasma radiating around Shego's hand.

"Don't you run away from me!" With a fierce toss, she hurled the plasma bolt through the air, into the flames where Johnny had left. But moments after this act of righteous anger, she collapsed on Judy, cradling her friend's badly burnt, barely breathing form.

"Oh God Judy, Judy please, please hold on, I'll get someone to help, please don't go away Judy," Sarah looked up frantically, hoping that maybe the explosion had drawn some attention to them. "Someone help me!" She screamed into the fire. Whipping around, she held Judy close and tried to stand up, but found her legs weren't working very well. She peered into the fire and saw a man walking toward her. The fire seemed to move with a mind of its own, sweeping the room and burning brighter and brighter until all Sarah could see was the dark silhouette piercing the flames and staring back at her.

"Hey! Hey you! Help me! Please my friend is hurt! Please she's…she's going…help me!" Sarah couldn't bring herself to accept that without medical treatment Judy was going to die. But having taken an explosion from point-blank range there was little hope for her even if she got medical attention. Sarah stared at the dark silhouette and a growing sense of déjà vu fell upon her. She remembered the flames of the comet, ripping through her skin and granting her the green Go Glow. Her green eyes widened, staring into the red eye of her stalker.

"**Stop crying, you're stronger than that. You're powerful, unstoppable! Stop crying and go! That's an order!**" Sarah shook her head and buried her face in Judy's bloody and burnt chest.

"No please…please save her…don't leave me alone," The man on fire refused to answer her. Shego looked up quickly, glaring at the man, her eyes blazing with all of the rage and fury she had felt building up since the first flame went up. Her hands cradling Judy clenched and began to glow bright green.

"Don't just stand there! Help me or I'll kill you!" The man on fire only stared back, his eyes narrowed, testing her threat. Sarah tried to hold his glare, but began to shake and sob uncontrollably, collapsing on Judy once more.

"Judy don't go, please don't go. I need you, please don't die. Judy please don't die!" The flames were all that answered her, with the man on fire's glare burning her more than the intensity of the raging fire.

* * *

_That night was forever burned into Sarah's memory. Shego became noticeably more aggressive, noticeably more rebellious, and noticeably more present. It reached a point to where only Heath remembered that Shego was just an act Sarah put on for the public. Soon Michael and the twins considered their sister to be the crabby smart-mouth that she was while saving the city. And Johnny Napalm held true to his word._

_The fires began the day after the spring formal disaster. It began with abandoned or condemned homes and offices. But soon it escalated to private shops and eventually even full scale apartment buildings. The media had a ball watching the interaction between Shego and Johnny, claiming that Johnny was "Shego's arch rival". The depth of their animosity ran far greater than any reporter or journalist could imagine. No one knew how the girl in the basement died in her best friend's arms. No one knew how Judy Nails slowly passed away with Shego completely incapable of saving her._

_Johnny was more than Shego's arch rival, she was Shego's nemesis, Shego's antithesis, every dark thought and every dark ambition that ever plagued her heart and mind. But try as she might, no matter how hard she fought, no matter how fierce her passion was Shego never took Johnny down. Johnny was by no means a better fighter than Shego—the green-skinned heroine was legendary and infamous for her fighting ability—but no matter how hard she hit, no matter how much plasma she pumped into him, Johnny kept coming at her, getting up after every hit and outlasting Shego until he simply walked away from the scene of the crime._

_Shego chased him for several months, never relenting never giving up. Finally, shortly after finishing her sophomore year, Shego found her chance. She would make sure Johnny never hurt anyone ever again._

* * *

Shego charged through the dank warehouse, Johnny in her sights. The green-haired delinquent spun around and cackled as he snapped his fingers. When the flames erupted in front of him, Shego was forced to skid to a halt, snarling as she tried to peer through the flames to find her target. To her amazement she found a gaping hole in the floor where the fire had hit. 

"What the? Where the heck does that go?" Shego walked to the edge and peered in, seeing a catwalk in the darkness. That's right, the warehouse was rumored to have a hidden basement, and it looked like Johnny had found it. Great, just great she was going to have to chase the maniac deep underground. As if fighting Johnny wasn't dangerous enough, now she was definitely going to be on her own. No one to call for help, no way to make a quick escape. Logic would say she should leave Johnny.

Logic seldom overruled passion when it came to Shego's feelings toward Johnny Napalm. She hopped into the hole, landing as silently as possible on the catwalk. It was darker than she'd original expected, but thankfully she had her Go Glow. Shego lit her hands up and stalked across the catwalk, cringing every time the ancient metal beneath her feet creaked ominously.

"I know you're here Johnny…you aren't getting away from me this time…" She whispered, just a hair louder than silence itself. Shego spun around frantically when she heard a pipe drop in the distance. Turning back to her path she breathed a small sigh of relief upon finding the ladder leading deeper into the secret basement. The grime and sludge on the ladder squelched and splattered everywhere the minute her hands touched it. If she weren't so driven, Shego would have definitely thought to throw up from the scent of the basement alone, ignoring the disgusting substance her hands repeatedly clasped around.

When her foot found no further rungs beneath, Shego jumped as softly as she could the rest of the way, putting out her Go Glow the second her feet touched the floor. Painfully she slumped forward and bit back a surprised exclamation. The drop had been further than she had anticipated, but despite minor pain the soles of her feet from the impact she remained uninjured. That was by far the best news of the day, she was going to need all the strength she could get for this fight.

"Johnny! I know you're down here now come out!" She heard the sound of a button being pressed and glared while trying to track the voice following.

"The Dark Princess just asked me to give up, she must be crazy if she thinks I'm going to listen!" Johnny had the most annoying habit of carrying around a tape recorder. No one had figured out why, but he constantly talked into it, usually insulting Shego when he did. It was harmless, but infuriating none the less! Shego snuck toward the sound of Johnny's voice, hoping to catch him off guard. If she could, maybe she'd have a chance of beating him for good this time!

Shego suddenly smelt ash in the air and ducked forward, dodging a stream of fire from behind. Rolling forward she came up and hurled a ball of searing plasma back at Johnny, who dove out of the way, firing several bursts of flame back at the heroine.

"Hahaha! You missed me Punkin'!" Shego growled and dodged the miniature explosions, hurling plasma back at Johnny every chance she got. From a distance, she didn't have a chance of beating him. But if she could get in close, she was by far the better melee fighter. Johnny made his first mistake when he charged at Shego stretching his hand out and willing the air to combust where she stood. In the time it took him to do this, Shego had lunged forward, her fist smashing into his face and knocking him completely off his feet.

"Oof!" Was the only sound heard moments before Shego unloaded a lifetime of frustration on the object of her homicidal rage. Johnny's body lurched back again when the barrage of fists repeatedly slammed his midsection, driving the wind from his lungs. Just as he was about to hit the ground Shego leapt up above him and brought both feet down on his chest, forcing a bloody cough from Johnny's lips.

"Give up! You aren't getting away from me this time Johnny!" Shego brought both fists back, plasma surging through her veins and radiating around her clawed gloves. Johnny grinned and swung his leg, which burst into flames and caught Shego in the side, knocking her to the ground. In the time it took Johnny to get up, Shego landed on one-hand in mid fall and spun around using a blast of plasma fired at the ground to rocket her toward Johnny. He grimaced in horror, then cried out in pain when Shego's fist rocked his head to the side.

"O…nice hit Dark Princess…ugh…Sheegie you really need to lay off," Blood leaking down from his broken nose in rivulets, Johnny stumbled away from Shego, his eyes wide in horror. Shego's brutal assault didn't stop though, she pressed her advantage, knocking away any defense Johnny brought up and calling upon every form of martial arts she had been trained in, every punch, kick, chop, hold, throw, if it could cause pain, she threw it at Johnny Napalm.

There was a brilliant flash of green light, and Johnny Napalm found himself flying badly burnt through the air and crashing through a pile of empty crates. He climbed to his feet, sneering at he saw Shego advancing on him.

"Okay Punkin' you wanna play like that? I'm game!" Johnny thrust his hands out and a ring of searing air shot out around him. Shego covered her eyes and was knocked off her feet by the sudden combustion of every burnable substance in the room. When she caught her breath, Shego stumbled to her feet and stared through the flames at Johnny, who was grinning a deadly challenge at her. She chanced a look around, taking in the magnitude of the flames. It seemed like she was standing in a burning sea of fire, but due to the thick smoke from the flames she found she was every bit as blind as she had been before in total darkness, if not even more than before.

"Your t-tricks w-won't beat me th-this time Johnny," Shego called out between breathless coughs. Johnny stared through the smoke and flames, breathing in the searing heat and ash like it the fresh air outside.

"Prove it Sweetie Cake!" Shego and Johnny lunged at each other, the former skidding to a halt and cutting the former's assault with a deadly roundhouse kick. Johnny ducked under it and threw a sloppy but powerful combination at Shego. The heroine stumbled away, her reserves being drained quickly by the replacement of the stale air with burning dead air. Johnny took advantage of her obvious weakness and blasted her with a burst of flame, knocking Shego to the ground. As he approached dangerously, the gruesome image of Judy's badly burnt, bleeding face entered Shego's mind and reminded her that Johnny couldn't be allowed to hurt anyone else.

"This is it Sheegie, it's been fun!" Johnny was amazed at the speed Shego moved with, then as his body caught up with her movements he realized he was the one now on the ground, barely able to breath. Shego jerked him from the ground and hit him with another plasma enhanced punch after another, batting him around relentlessly.

"Oh God don't kill me! I'll be good!" Johnny finally screamed through bloody lips as Shego slammed him against the burning floor, her fist glowing very dangerously. She stared at him, her teeth clenched dangerously with a horrifying snarl etched across her lips. Her emerald green eyes were blazing with fury, pain, suffering, all of it directed at Johnny Napalm who had ruined the happiest night of her life. The kid who had taken her best friend in the world away from her just for sick kicks.

'_He should die, he should die painfully and brutally. I should kill him…I want to kill him so bad…I want to make sure he never hurts anyone, he'll never hurt anyone ever again. Every again,_' Shego's glare hardened and Johnny's eyes widened fearfully. Shego reached down with her glowing hand and gripped his collar with all her might, lifting him off the ground and glaring at him. Her breathing was ragged, her expression was wild.

"I'd rather see you rot in jail for the rest of your life," Johnny stared back into Shego's eyes, both oblivious to the warehouse collapsing around them. Sarah had finally done it, she was finally going to put Johnny away forever. He'd never hurt anyone ever again.

* * *

_But things didn't go the way she had hoped. The minute Team Go had stepped into the court room to testify against Johnny Napalm, something was wrong. Too soon they realized the horrifying truth. Johnny Napalm had killed hundreds of people, caused thousands of dollars in property damage and had injured more people than could be counted._

_And he was going to get away with every bit of it. The defense attorney had woven a tale of childhood abuse and scorn, spinning a violent web of lies about how his client was just a victim of circumstance. Team Go argued Johnny's sad story violently, but it became apparent that this case had been planned long before they arrived. Johnny made sure that only Shego had seen him, only Shego ever confronted him, and only Shego personally saw that Johnny was responsible._

_And when they thought things couldn't turn any more against them, Johnny produced the tape recorder he carried to "sort out his demons". The minute the play button was pressed, Team Go realized that the case had been rigged from the very start. Shego listened in horror as on the tape, Johnny begged for mercy, and Shego coldly replied how she would rather he rot in jail than be good. The realization of just how twisted this event was began to set in as the verdict was reached._

_Johnny Napalm was innocent, and had only been assigned a therapist to help with his childhood trauma. Shego was numb as she watched the cuffs—handcuffs created by one of their enemies that could neutralize a Go Glow, and coincidentally stop Johnny's combustion power—were removed and Team Go was escorted from the courthouse. Shego regained the ability to think, just in time._

_Johnny had gotten away with murder once, why not again?_

* * *

"Hey Dark Princess!" Shego turned and stared at Johnny who was still standing in the courthouse. He grinned at her viciously, something evil gleaming in his eye. Her mouth fell open and Shego had no time to react, seeing the flames rising from Johnny's skin. 

"I just wanted to thank you with a going away present!"

"No!! Johnny don't!!" Shego screamed, her voice cracking as she tried to gather the plasma to stop him. There was a deafening "pop" followed by a rush of hot air. Shego was thrown to the ground, watching as Johnny's own body combusted and erupted in a violent pillar of flame that engulfed the courthouse, presumably killing him and everyone inside.

Shego couldn't think as she watched the courthouse burn. She could hear people screaming and crying for help she could hear Hego barking orders, trying to take control of the situation. But all Shego could do was stare at the flames and realize the sick truth. Johnny Napalm had hurt someone again, he had beaten her, and she'd never be able to bring him to justice.

And as she realized this, she stared into the flames and thought she saw Johnny. But a second glance let her know that it wasn't Johnny. It was the man on fire, staring back at her, his red eyes taunting her and letting her know that he wasn't pleased. Letting her know, that he wasn't going to be ignored. Letting her know that she wouldn't get another chance.

* * *

_Two more years finally passed and Sarah Gordon graduated High School. This accomplishment raised no feeling of pride nor significance in her heart though. The horrible death of Judy Nails, her only friend in her entire school career, and the courthouse massacre caused by Johnny Napalm haunted her and left her incapable of taking any joy in life anymore. If it weren't for a subtle streak of masochism she'd have quit the game the day that Johnny beat her once and for all._

_Sarah had felt a growing trepidation a building weakness in the pit of her stomach. It felt like she was changing, but she didn't know how or why. Something inside her was twisting and churning, growing and burning. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, it kept piling up and threatening to consume her. But try as she might to soothe the growing anxiety—going to such extremes as mastering the martial arts she'd already learned to discovering new ones—it continued to hover in the edge of her mind._

_Shego was sick and tired. Two years ago, her weakness had let Johnny Napalm kill again, and left her unable to ever get him back. The dark look of the man on fire, staring back at her from those flames told her a history of guilt and depression. It was her fault that those people were hurt. She had been weak, she had let Johnny kill those people. And staring into his eyes, she had seen the guilty truth. If she was weak again, it wouldn't begin to compare with the courthouse massacre. Johnny Napalm would be the last mistake she ever made._

* * *

Sarah sighed, brushing her sweaty bangs away from her green face. Now that she had graduated she had no intention of wearing make-up anymore, even if it compromised her identity. The night was miserable. The moon seemed to pour down just as much heat as the day star had. There was barely the hint of a breeze in the air and all it managed to do was move the humidity in a way that was worse than if it was allowed to sit stagnant. 

Sarah passed by a gas station and stared at it for a few minutes, shrugging and sighing before making her way toward it. She had just been wandering around, finding the Go Tower too confining for the wretched feeling of the night. They were running short on milk though, she might as well buy some to make her venture some kind of useful.

As she approached, Shego narrowed her eyes and stared at the scene she saw behind the door. She stopped where she stood and watched a kid run out as the cashier came out, yelling after him.

"Hey get back here!" Shego waved to the cashier and began to hurry after the kid.

"I've got him!" Slipping into full hero mode, Shego's eyes narrowed and her veins began to pump boiling blood through her heart. She needed this, even if the exertion was going to make the night feel worse. The adrenaline, the rushing thrill of the fight, the satisfaction of beating the tar out of a punk was what she needed. Shego ducked and rolled as she heard a shot fire out, feeling the bullet whiz by, though it had been poorly aimed to begin with and probably would have missed if she hadn't ducked.

"Hey freeze you jackass!" The kid yelped and ducked into an alley, probably hoping to lose her. Shego snarled and walked after him, knowing it was a dead end. The kid whirled around and took another shot at her, but Shego had anticipated and dodged this action. She came up with a fury, her fist cracking the kid's jaw in a single strike, knocking him crying to the ground. She jerked the gun from his hand and held his collar roughly, glaring at him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please I won't do it again just don't hurt me!" Sarah stared into the kid's eyes, déjà vu washing over her. A sick, disgusting feeling began to rise up in her stomach. She had to bite back a response to keep from vomiting. The kid saw that Sarah was hesitating and struggled to get free. He snatched his gun and began to try to wrestle it away from Sarah. Shego snapped out of her reverie and snarled, fighting back with the kid.

Suddenly it wasn't some punk from the streets who was fighting for control of the gun. Suddenly she was wrestling again with Johnny Napalm, with an uncontrollable fire raging around her. Shego's green eyes narrowed and she grabbed the kid's collar once more, lifting him off his feet and pinning him against the wall. He stared in horror as she glared back at him. The hand she held the gun with was trembling, her eyes shaking with unimaginable remembrance.

"I won't do it again I promise just please don't hurt me," The kid began to beg. Sarah relaxed, realizing she had been overreacting. He wasn't Johnny Napalm, he was just a kid trying to act like he was something special. She started to let him down when suddenly they both heard police sirens in the distance. The kid panicked and tried to make a break for it. Shego reacted instinctively and with such frightening decisiveness that it took the third shot from the pistol for her to realize what had happened.

Sarah dropped the gun she had taken from the kid, staring at his unmoving form lying in the street. She heard the police sirens getting closer but her legs wouldn't move, her entire body felt frozen as she stared at the fruit of her paranoia. Somewhere in the blackest pit in Hell she could hear Johnny Napalm laughing at her. Sarah fell backward against the wall of the alley, her eyes wide and horrified. She wanted to feel bad about this, she wanted to be terrified with herself, disgusted with herself. But maybe that was the most disturbing part.

She gasped upon reaching this conclusion, and her brain and body finally reconnected. With a speed that not even a bat out of hell could begin to match, she bolted from the scene, stumbling over her own two feet and moving without a destination in mind. Part of her wanted to get away from the scene so she wouldn't get caught, but the larger portion of her, the part of her that had realized the truth, wanted to get away from how she felt. She wanted to escape the sick satisfaction, the sick and horrible indifference she had felt when she pulled the trigger.

Sarah tripped and hit the ground hard. Her eyes were wild, her every movement erratic and frantic. She heard the sirens in the distance and began to crawl across the ground to the basement window she could see at the base of a nearby apartment complex. If she could just push open the window she'd have somewhere to hide. Shego narrowed her eyes and smashed the window with a plasma powered swat. She crawled in and fell to the ground, groaning as pain wracked every nerve in her body.

Sarah sat up and looked around, trying to make heads or tails of the dark basement. If it was possible it felt even hotter in here than it did outside…oh God. Her adrenaline had run out and she was realizing the implications of her action full force. Sarah pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, shaking horribly.

"I'm a murderer…I killed…I killed a little boy, he couldn't have been more than fourteen years old…oh my God I killed a little kid!" Shego held her hands out and willed them to glow, basking in the light of her plasma covered hands. The plasma around her hands began to burn more fiercely, striking her as odd. She wasn't using any more power, yet the flames were burning brighter. Sarah gasped as she saw the man on fire, only a few inches tall now, standing in the flames given off by her hands. Though the fire should have been coming from her hands, it almost seemed to come from the man on fire.

"**You finally did the right thing, now he'll never hurt anyone," **Sarah shook her head and rested it on her knees once more, unable to look at the man on fire.

"I'm a horrible person…I should just turn myself in. That's the right thing to do." The man on fire's glare hardened, forcing her to look at him.

"**Did it feel like you did the wrong thing?" **Shego flinched and looked away, trying to rationalize how she had felt the way she did.

"It didn't feel like anything! I didn't feel…anything!" The man on fire, his eyes shifted in a way that would almost say he was sneering at her.

**"They'll never accept you if you go back to them, they can't understand the power you hold,"** Sarah shook her head, unable to accept that her brothers would forsake her for making a mistake. She'd serve her jail time, serve any punishment they gave her. It was the right thing to do. Right thing to do? Shego snorted and looked back at the man on fire in her hands. Johnny Napalm had killed hundreds of people, hurt even more! And he had gotten away with all of it! Punishing her wasn't justice! Did justice even exist anymore? If a man like Johnny Napalm could walk free…was anything right in the world?

"I can't go back…but I won't go to jail. If Johnny Napalm walked, so will I! I won't let them lock me up if they didn't lock him up!" Shego muttered angrily. The man on fire continued to glare at her, his piercing red eyes telling her it was the right decision.

"**You have to leave this wretched place, you'll never reach your potential here,**" Sarah tried to ignore what he was saying, she tried to tell herself it wasn't true. But Shego knew it was. Go City was holding her back, keeping her from becoming all that she could be. All the memories, all the nightmares, all the horrible scars on her heart. She had to escape. She had to get away. Police sirens blared overhead, letting her know that the police had found her. They were going to arrest her.

"They won't take me to jail, I won't go to jail!" She muttered decisively, stumbling to her feet and staring out the window. She knew there were a lot of officers, they might have even called her brothers. She was going to have to fight if she was going to escape.

**"What will you do when you leave? They'll never forgive a hero who took a life,"** Shego looked down at the man on fire in her hands and sneered, turning her burning emerald eyes up to the window.

"They betrayed me as a hero and they'd do it again in a heartbeat…as long as I'm a hero, they'll always hold me back," She whispered dangerously as the man on fire fizzled away in her hands, leaving behind a very angry and very determined Shego. Her lips curled into a wicked smirk. Fight or flight was in order, and it looked like she was about to get a little of B and a whole lot of A.

* * *

Hego didn't know what to believe when he arrived at the scene with Mego and Wego. The heat had been broken by a fierce downpour that reminded him sickeningly of the night they had received their powers. Police cars lay strewn across the street unmanned, with the unmoving bodies of most of Go City's finest laying on the pavement. A quick check and a sigh of relief later let Hego know they weren't dead, just beaten unconscious. He desperately hadn't wanted to believe the message he had received. She couldn't have done something like this…but all his doubts were erased when the team approached the nearest scene of the fight. 

Shego slowly turned to face them, an ominous grin spread across her lips. Her hands were blazing, her damp hair framing her face, distorting all of the wickedness radiating from her expression. Hego tried to find his voice, tried to question her doing this, but all that came out was a simple "Why?" Shego sneered and glared at him, slowly approaching her brothers. Mego and Wego backed away, but Hego held his ground, never losing contact with those vicious emerald eyes.

"Why? Doy! I'm evil, Hego! Every fight we've faced, every villain we've stopped, every plot to take over the world…the more I saw it, the more I starting to want to try it! Now I'm sick of playing your game! Sick of hiding from who I really am!" Hego snapped out of his stupor and glanced at the younger members of the team, then back to Shego.

"Shego…you can't…what are you saying?!" His voice was frantic, trying to deny what he very well knew she was saying. Shego's grin darkened. None the less, it was the perfect prelude to what she knew had to happen. Finally, breaking free of the shackles of heroism Shego pulled her arm back and cried out.

"I'm saying this is my resignation!" Her arm flew and with a single plasma bolt, Team Go was no more.

* * *

_They say every end gives birth to a new beginning, and with her fall from grace that tore her free from Team Go, Shego's dark story had begun again._

**The End**


End file.
